For safety reasons and in particular to protect the pilot from attacks from the area of the passenger cabin, the cockpit door between the passenger cabin and the cockpit is designed to be unbreakable and bulletproof and can be opened only from the cockpit side during flight. There is the option of sending an open request from the passenger cabin to the cockpit, but if the cockpit crew does not or cannot respond to this request, then it is impossible for anyone to access the cockpit from the passenger cabin in an emergency. The scenario on which the invention is based is thus that an authorized crew member of the airplane is standing in front of the locked cockpit door and cannot open it in the traditional way, i.e., the authorized crew member is prevented or denied access to the cockpit without adequate reason. The authorized crew member thus has the well-founded suspicion that an emergency or a criminal act is underway.
The interactive system and method according to the invention should serve to allow opening of a locked cockpit door of an airplane in flight in an emergency, even from outside the cockpit, although only by an authorized person, and this is possible even if the pilot is currently denying access to the cockpit or cannot grant access because of a health impairment.
It is known from DE 101 45 261 A1 that a cockpit door can be opened by means of a radio signal, preferably encrypted, from air traffic control or air navigation services.
It is known from DE 197 32 806 A1 that the passenger cabin can be monitored from the cockpit by means of video cameras. The image data from these monitoring cameras can also be transferred automatically to a ground station, for example, an air control tower, in certain situations.